


you'd rather run than say you tried

by nosecoffee



Series: kids are still depressed when you dress them up [3]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alana is the guy in the chair, Angst, Arguments, Banter, Blatant Hurt, Comedy, Dialogue Heavy, Discount Leatherface 2: Electric Boogaloo, F/F, Fluff, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jared sews, Kissing, M/M, New Conspiracy: Connor didn't finish the milk, Spiderman AU, Superheros, Supervillains, Swearing, The Amazing Asshole Jared Kleinman, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, and impulsive, because I'm self indulgent, because im weak, the running gag of Connor tearing the suit a little and Jared losing his goddamn mind over it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 03:17:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12099525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nosecoffee/pseuds/nosecoffee
Summary: "You're gay for Zoe Murphy?""I'm gay, period, but especially for Zoe Murphy." Alana snorts."COULD YOU GUYS PLEASE ONLY USE THE COMMS FOR IMPORTANT THINGS AND NOT ABOUT HOW HOT MY SISTER IS?" Connor yells, retreating again and shooting at his opponents feet."Could you stop shouting into the Comms?" Jared whines. "You're hurting my fragile ears."(Or, the story of how Jared found out that Connor was Spiderman)





	you'd rather run than say you tried

**Author's Note:**

  * For [waninggibbous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/waninggibbous/gifts).



> Title from 'Let Me Down Easy' by Shepard
> 
> Set before during and after "can't find my way to you"

Jared sits down at their table, in the library and both Connor and Alana stare at him.

Connor's the first to speak, "Where's the fire, Kleinman?"

Jared grimaces at them, and then dumps a plastic bag on the table. "Care to explain this to me?" He's addressing Alana.

She gives the plastic bag a cautious look, and then pulls it towards her. Alana looks in it for possibly two seconds, and then gasps, pulling it to her chest. "Where did you get this?"

"I think you might've forgotten that my dad owns the repair shop on Main Street." Jared drawls, leaning back in his chair with raised eyebrows. "And he might not notice a motherfucking thing, but I do."

Connor leans over and sees red and blue. Oh, _dear lord,_ they're _fucked._

"I can't believe you're Spiderman." Jared says.

But he's not looking at Connor. He's looking at Alana.

He thinks that _Alana_ is-

They share a look and then Alana starts nodding, frantically at Jared. "Yes, yes I am, please don't tell anybody."

"I'm fucking with you." Jared snorts. "Those aren't your measurements."

Alana narrows her eyes, a little scared, a little put out. "How the _hell_ do you know my measurements?" She asks.

"Dad repaired your suit for junior prom, last year." He replies, nonchalantly.

"Oh, shit, he did, didn't he." She looks away for a minute, but Connor's still pretty focused on the plastic bag in Alana's hands. The makeshift Spiderman suit isn't ideal, but it does the job. It is, however, pretty recognisable, and that's their big mistake, he realises.

"So, when did that happen? And why didn't you tell me?" Jared honestly looks a little offended, and Connor isn't sure whether to laugh or beg Jared not to tell anybody. Jared gives the bag an almost pained look. "And, honestly, is that the best improvised suit you could make?"

Connor lowers his voice. "It happened about two months ago, just a bit after the electricity dude and the fire extinguisher incident. You weren't really on the list of people who needed to know." Connor jerks his thumb at the plastic bag. "My family may be rich, but they'd sure fucking notice if I invested in a professionally made spandex something."

"One, harsh. Two, it's not as expensive as you're making it out to be in your head." Jared pauses, and grimaces. "Three, who _does_ know?"

"At the moment?" He glances at Alana, and sees her examining the patching on the sleeveless hoodie.

"Yeah."

"You, and Alana. That's it."

 _"Really?"_ Jared looks genuinely surprised, for a second, and then it melts back into steely confidence.

"It seems like a lot of people." Connor grumbles.

Jared rolls his eyes, at this, and leans forward, voice lowered. "So, now that my tech-slash-sewing-abilities and such are at your disposal, am I on the team?"

"Team?" Alana repeats.

"You guys. Spiderman. You know, _The Scooby Gang? Mission Impossible?"_

Connor glances to Alana, again, and gives Jared a questioning look. "You want to want to help me out with beating up guys with knives in 7/11 parking lots?" He inquires in a just checking tone.

"Sure." Jared shrugs, nonchalantly. "Better than playing COD with a bunch of thirteen year-olds."

Connor and Alana have a long conversation conducted with only facial expressions, and eventually Connor just sighs, "Whatever. Keep your mouth shut and you can do what you want."

"Aw, sweet." Jared says, pumping his fist in the air, unable to control the extreme excitement he's obviously feeling. "Okay, first things first. Gimme that back. I'm making you a new suit."

"Huh?" Alana replies, eloquently, looking down at the bag.

"Are you serious?" Is Connor's response.

Jared raises an eyebrow. "Connor, you're running around in a sleeveless hoodie and tights. I'm a better friend than that." He gets to his feet, suddenly all business. "I'll need you measurements, again, just to be sure, but I should have it ready by Friday, if my chem homework allows."

Jared snatches the plastic bag from Alana's hands sand dumps it in the garbage can.

"Swing by my house at four." He says to Connor, and then laughs his head off as he walks out of the library.

~

"So, were the powers a product of the Hero Complex, or was the Hero Complex a product of the powers?"

"I ask myself that same question all the time."

"Connor, please."

"Is this you asking me how long I've been Spiderman?"

"Yeah."

"About a month."

"New question."

"Shoot."

"Why is your superhero name _'Spiderman'_ when it could've been _'Daddy Long Legs'?"_

"Kleinman, get your bullshit kinks out of my face."

"Yeesh. I'm just saying, if I had legs like yours-"

"Are you hitting on me?"

"-and spider powers, I would take that idea and run with it. Speaking of, where did the spider powers come from?"

"Weird spider brooch in the confiscated items cupboard at my dads work. It bit me."

"A _brooch_ bit you."

"I said what I said."

"What the fuck. Did you go back and get it?"

"Doubt I'd ever find it, again."

"That sucks."

~

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME." Jared yells, holding what remains of his bloodstained, shredded suit. The suit Connor had officially owned for a whopping total of thirteen days.

"It's not like I had control of his scissors!" Connor cries from his beanbag. Alana glances between them from Jared's bed. She's eating two-minute noodles, because, apparently, her dad banned them, and now seems to be the only time she can eat them. "He wanted to kill me! He had absolutely no consideration for your work, Jared!"

"I HAVE NOTHING TO WORK WITH, HERE." Jared continues to shout. "THIS IS SCRAP MATERIAL. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, RIGHT? SCRAP!"

The door opens and Jared tosses the suit at Connor who quickly stuffs it in his backpack. It's Jared's twelve year-old sister, standing in the doorway with a very unimpressed look on her face. She strides into the room, all 4"7 of her, and hands Jared a rock. "Jared, I think you could use this." She says, in the most soothing voice Connor's ever heard.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, RUTH, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS." Jared yells, holding up the rock. Written on it, in permanent marker, is the word _Breathe._

"We made them in my stress-relief group." Ruth replies, crossing her arms, and giving Alana and Connor a look that practically _dares_ them to fight her. "It's suspiciously heavy and it's supposed to be stimulating or something."

"Oh." The tension seems to evaporate from Jared and his voice returns to a normal volume. "That's actually pretty nice. Thanks Ruth. Go and do your homework."

He ushers her out of the room and stuffs the rock into his pocket. Jared takes off his glasses and rubs his temples with his index fingers. "Okay. Fuck. When did Evan find out?"

"Right after the incident of the flying scissors." They all, visibly, shudder.

"So, the same night you got together? Last night?"

"How do you know about that?" Connor questions, struggling to escape the clutches of Jared's humungous beanbag.

"I'm an all-knowing-" Jared begins.

 _"Jared."_ Alana says, forcefully, around a mouthful of noodles.

"Geez." She nods at him to continue. "Alright, Evan told me."

"He did?" Connor says.

"I'm his best friend, asshole." Jared says.

 _"I'm_ his best-" but Jared's already shaking his head.

"No, you're his _boyfriend._ There's a difference." He shrugs, then, slumping into his desk chair. "Besides, it happened _last night._ You really think he wouldn't text me?"

"Right." Connor agrees and faceplants on the bed. "So, how long will repairs take?"

Jared snorts in almost disgust. "I can get it back to you on Monday."

"What about weekend rounds?" Connor asks, aghast.

"Make something up. I'm not fucking magic, Connor."

~

"SO, ALANA, DO YOU REMEMBER THAT GUY WITH THE CHAINSAW ON THE BRIDGE, A MONTH OR SO, AGO?" Connor yells, flipping over a dumpster.

 _"How could I forget?"_ Says Alana's calm voice in his ear. There's a slurping noise in his other ear, a clear sign that Jared is bored as hell.

"HE FUCKING SURVIVED." Connor says, and _Discount Leatherface 2: Electric Boogaloo_ revs the chainsaw, as if to announce his newfound presence in the alley.

 _"Oh, shit."_ Alana says.

The slurping noise again, and then Jared says, _"What guy with a chainsaw on a bridge?"_

 _"It's his origin story."_ Connor webs the chainsaw out of Discount Leatherface's hand, leaving it to skitter away on the ground of the alley. It makes a grating noise as the blade his the cement of the sidewalk and Connor and Discount Leatherface both run for it. _"If I weren't so gay for his sister, and he wasn't so gay for Evan, it might also be the start of our romantic subplot arc. He saved me."_

 _"Oh, that's pretty neat."_ Discount Leatherface reaches is before Connor and wheels around, with it outstretched. _"You're gay for Zoe Murphy?"_

 _"I'm gay, period, but especially for Zoe Murphy."_ Alana snorts.

"COULD YOU GUYS PLEASE ONLY USE THE COMMS FOR IMPORTANT THINGS AND NOT ABOUT HOW HOT MY SISTER IS?" Connor yells, retreating again and shooting at his opponents feet.

 _"Could you stop shouting into the Comms?"_ Jared whines. _"You're hurting my fragile ears."_

"I'LL CUT YOUR EARS OFF, KLEINMAN. YOU DON'T NEED EARS TO FIX MY SUIT." Connor leaps onto the wall as his back hits a dead end, and Discount Leatherface charges at him. "'LANA, CAN YOU LOOK UP RECENT CHAINSAW PURCHASES, IN TOWN. PLEASE."

 _"Already on it."_ She says, smoothly.

"JARED-" Connor begins, jumping out of the way of the chainsaw as it goes smacking into the brick wall where he'd been, only seconds before.

 _"I know."_ Jared grumbles, slurping. _"Keep on the surveillance."_

There's silence on both their parts.

Connor continues to faux-fight Discount Leatherface and then Alana makes a triumphant noise.

 _"It was bought with a middle aged man at Costco with...Matt Holtzer's credit card, but with his own ID."_ A pause. No slurping from Jared. _"Holy shit. Connor, you're fighting Matt's dad."_

"WHAT THE FUCK." Connor yells, kicking Matt Holtzer's dad in the face.

The chainsaw ricochets off a wall and saws into the dumpster. Garbage spills out of the new hole.

The man on the ground moans in pain.

Connor webs his hands to the pavement and presses his foot to the edge of the skeleton mask the man is wearing, toeing it off his face.

And, indeed, head of the middle school P&C, and host of many a suburban cookout, is Matt Holtzer's dad.

"What the fuck." He repeats. "It's him, it's actually him."

 _"Fuck. With the way he was moving..."_ Jared trails off, sounding interested for the first time, that night. _"I'm looking at the surveillance. I thought Matt's dad couldn't even get out of his wheelchair, anymore."_

"Me too." Connor agrees. "I guess it's his supervillain origin story, or whatever."

"Who the fuck you talking to, kid?" Matt Holtzer's dad, groans.

"Shut up." He snaps. "'Lana call the police. Kleinman-"

 _"Tell me you didn't tear the suit."_ Jared sighs, over the Comms, and Connor can just imagine him rubbing his temples, glasses discarded on his desk, beside him. _"I just got it fixed."_

Connor rubs his neck, and says nothing, knowing Jared has eyes on him.

 _"FUCKING HELL."_ Jared screeches.

Connor winces and glances down at Discount Leatherface, unmasked. "Should I interrogate him?"

 _"I don't think so."_ Alana replies, sounding a little conflicted herself. Connor knows she wants to know why he held up the bridge, too, and how he survived it.

"Okay. I'll confiscate his chainsaw, and web him down fully, and then I'll do final rounds." Connor says.

 _"Cool."_ Alana replies. There's silence on Jared's end, but Connor's arm is bleeding where the chainsaw nicked him, so Jared can suck it up.

Connor webs Matt Holtzer's dad to the pavement, turns off the chainsaw, and waits until he hears police sirens.

"Have fun in court," are his parting words, before saluting and webbing out of the alley.

~

 _"In such a small town, it won't be long before someone recognises our names when you're yelling them into the Comms."_ Alana says, through Evan's phone. It's on speaker, on Evan's bed. Evan's patting at the shrinking cut on Connor's arm with a cotton bud and a determined look.

"What are you suggesting?" Connor replies, wincing as Evan wipes at the cut with an alcohol wipe. "Code names?"

Alana snorts on the other end. _"Sure."_

"Do I get a code name?" Evan asks, dumping the wipe in his wastebasket and digging through the First Aid kit for gauze.

"Once we get you a comm." Connor promises.

Evan furrows his eyebrows, wrapping the gauze around Connor's arm. "I still don't see why Jared got one before I did."

"Because he does surveillance." He replies.

"I know. But..." Evan trails off, looking conflicted.

 _"Alright, I'm beat."_ Alana says. Connor realises how private the conversation is becoming. She sounds a tiny bit frantic. _"We'll discuss code names tomorrow, at lunch."_

She hangs up. Evan sags. "She just didn't want to hear us fight." He sighs, leaning against the wall.

 _"I_ don't want to hear us fight." Connor says, turning to look at him, legs crossed. "I _hate it_ when we fight."

"Then stop giving us a reason to fight." Evan huffs.

"If I could, I would." Connor snaps and then pales.

He hates it when they fight. He really does. But it seems, when he's not getting patched up from a fight, when they're alone, together, all they do is go around and and around on the same topic. He doesn't want to fight Evan. Especially not like this. He doesn't want to blow up at him, lose control, hurt him.

Connor wouldn't know what to do if he hurt Evan.

He pauses, taking a few breaths to calm himself.

Evan stares at him. "I don't wanna have this argument again." He whispers. _"You_ don't wanna have this argument, again. I know. But apparently, we really suck at finishing arguments. We can't just let this go, again."

Connor doesn't want to hear him ask it. Not again. He doesn't want this.

"Do you think I'm useless?" Evan asks, and Connor flinches.

"No, Evan." He whispers. "I _don't_ think you're useless. I just don't want you getting hurt."

"You say that. You say that _every time,_ but every time you say that, there's absolutely no chance of me getting hurt." Evan's voice gets louder, more sure, and Connor can tell that he's been thinking about this. He's been thinking about this a lot. "All I'm asking you here is if I can be part of this thing. Alana's involved. Jared's involved. They know, right off the bat, what's happening, but I have to wait for you to call me. Do you know how fucking useless that makes me feel?"

"You're not useless." Connor repeats.

"Then stop assuming I am!" Evan gets off the bed, and paces the floor. "I get it! You're a superhero! You're bound to get hurt! I'm bound to worry that it'll be worse than last time! But right now, there's nothing immediate I can do. Right now...I'm just the cleanup crew."

Connor can't look at him. He stares at his hands. He wishes the superpower he had could make this go away. He doesn't want to have to tell Evan he'd rather...

"Would it be easier for you...would it be easier if I weren't...if we weren't..." Evan's voice holds a pained tone.

That he'd rather it... "Evan." He breathes.

"Tell me honestly." Evan presses, and moves forward to touch their fingers together.

Connor doesn't want to admit to Evan that he'd rather never see him again than involve him in this. Then watch him get hurt because Connor did something wrong.

Connor can't do this.

"I need to go." He says, instead of anything else, and he can't look at Evan, because he knows Evan will be staring at him with that heartbroken face. He picks up his bag, and his discarded shirt, kisses Evan on the cheeks, and climbs out the window without another word.

~

"What the fuck did you do." Jared demands, sitting down at Connor's table. He slams his tray down on the table top and Connor jumps a little, glaring at Jared.

"Care to elaborate?" He drawls. Alana frowns at him, from beside him. He'd told her what happened. She called him an idiot.

"With Evan. Heidi says he didn't get out of bed, this morning. I know you were with him, last night." Jared's fists clench, knuckles going white, and Connor doesn't think he's ever seen Jared this upset, before. He didn't think Jared really, actually cared. "What the fuck did you do."

"He accused me of thinking he's useless, asked me if I wanted to break up with him." Connor mumbles, scraping a fork through his mac and cheese.

"And what did you say?" His tone is still forceful, but Connor now hears the pain in it. Like he understands what Evan's saying, like he understands why Connor's struggling. If only a little.

"I didn't." Connor admits, and Alana tenses beside him. "I left."

"Oh, good." And Connor can see it all going downhill from there. Jared puts on an outraged tone. A sarcastic tone. A conflicted expression. "See, I thought you knew about Evan's fucking _abandonment issues._ I thought you knew enough about him to know that that would be the _exact wrong fucking thing to do-"_

Connor snaps his plastic fork. _"SHUT UP."_

The entire cafeteria goes silent. He thought he was getting better at this.

"I'm just gonna go." He says, grabbing his bag and walking out.

~

"What the fuck is this." Connor asks, hanging up his jacket. Zoe taps her foot on the tiles, the bottom of her Converse hi-tops making a sharp noise. It grates in Connor's ear.

"We need to talk." She replies. They're standing in the entryway.

"I didn't think you wanted to talk to me." He says.

"Despite what you may think, I actually do care about you." Zoe quips, watching him walk past. "And I'm worried."

"Why?" He knows why.

"You made a scene in the cafeteria. You're being more passive aggressive than usual. Jared says you and Evan haven't talked in a week. Says you're 'on a break'." She follows him to the stairs, and then halfway up them. "And I've read your diary. I know you're in love with him."

Connor rounds on her. "You read my diary?" He demands. It's embarrassing enough that she knows he has a diary in the first place, but what if she saw the shit about being Spiderman?

"Irrelevant." Zoe waves it away. It seems that if she does know, she's not interested in talking about it. "Why are you fighting him if you love him?"

"Love isn't all sunshine and rainbows, Zoe." Connor informs her.

"But you're both really unhappy." She insists. "And you don't have to be."

He stops at the top off the stairs, turning to face her, "What do you suggest I do, then?"

"Talk to him." Zoe says, simply.

Connor snorts, thinking of all the times (before things got better), that his parents would sit down to talk and end up screaming at each other. That could be him and Evan if he didn't do something about it. "Because talking will fix _all_ my problems." He says, sarcastically.

"Healthy relationships are built on communication." She frowns.

"How would you know?" Connor says, moving towards his bedroom. He just wants a nap.

"I don't." Zoe responds as he passes the professional photo shoots done when they were young.

"I'm going to take a nap." He says, wanting nothing more to about this conversation - he knows she's right, but he's not ready, not quite yet.

"I'm gonna make Alana hold an intervention." Zoe threatens as he opens his bedroom door.

"You wouldn't dare." Connor counters, not truly sure that he believes himself.

"You don't know where her loyalties lie." She replies, smugly, arms crossed over her chest.

"I should hope in me, considering I'm her best friend." He comments, a little absently.

"Considering I'm currently kissing her, I might have a little more power than you." The kissing part is a little shocking, but he knew Alana was into her from the start. It's that Zoe reciprocates her feelings that shocks him the most.

If she's expecting a reaction, she must be disappointed. He focuses on the part of the sentence that concerns him. "You're evil." Connor whispers, almost incredulous.

"I am." Zoe agrees. "Talk to Evan."

"Fuck you." He says.

"Fuck _you."_ She replies, in kind, as he shuts the door.

~

"Oh, fuck." Connor sighs, as he dumps his bag on Alana's couch.

"Connor, this is an intervention." Jared announces, holding what looks like the neatest set of notecards Connor's ever seen him hold. Even neater than his _Great Gatsby_ presentation notecards. To be fair, Jared _was_ a little hungover, that day, and his speech was nonsense, so _anything_ would be better than his _Great Gatsby_ notecards.

He suspects Alana has something to do with it, considering the fact that she's holding an identical stack of notecards.

"Where the fuck did you even get an intervention banner?" He inquires, because he's actually curious as to where they acquired it.

"If you don't get involved with this, the next step is locking you two in a closet until you talk about your feelings, or kill each other." Jared says, and it doesn't sound practiced, so these are obviously his own words. "And the latter is not desirable."

"Alana-" Connor tries to say, but she cuts him off.

"Connor, I refuse to let you ignore this problem, this is happening, even if I have to force you to stay in the room." She snaps.

Connor huffs, "Alana, you said I had to come talk to Evan, and I'm here, you don't have to force me to-"

"Jared, chair." She gestures and Jared pushes Connor into a chair he hadn't even seen when he walked in.

"Guys!" He cries, and then feels Jared slide his hand into handcuffs.

"Where did you get handcuffs, anyway?" Alana asks, both of their notecards abandoned on the floor, near the fireplace.

"You don't want to know." Jared mumbles.

"GROSS, JARED." Connor practically screeches, nearly toppling the chair in an attempt together away from what he's assuming are Jared's parent's handcuffs.

"Besides the point." Jared says.

"REMOVE THE HANDCUFFS." Connor shouts.

"I want to make sure you don't run away again." Jared tries to reason, but Connor is still struggling.

He flicks his wrist and the web seems to hit somewhere around Jared's ribs by the winded sound he makes. "And handcuffing me to a chair with your parents handcuffs is the way to do it?"

"He's right. It _is_ a bit cruel." Alana relents.

"What's _cruel_ is what he just did to me." Jared groans, from the arm of Alana's floral couch. "What other alternative do we have?"

"You could let me go?" Connor suggests.

"Should we..." Jared's tone is unsure.

"Just take my scarf." Alana sighs and Jared moves to replace the handcuffs with Alana's embroidered scarf. She knows he won't tear it, because it was her mother's. He glares at her, as she grins back at him, smugly.

"Stay still." Jared murmurs, once the handcuffs slide off his wrists.

"Because I want to be in this position as much as you, Kleinman." Connor jokes.

"Shut up." Jared replies and Alana takes his place, behind Connor, tying his wrists to the back of the chair with her scarf.

"Alright, done." She says, once she's tightened the last knot.

"Jesus, Alana. Where'd you learn to tie knots like this?" Connor's got to admit, despite the vague discomfort, he's impressed at her skill.

"Girls scouts." She says in a knowing tone.

"What the fuck." Connor murmurs, and they shuffle out of the room.

"Alright, Jared, Zoe will be here in five minutes or less with Evan." Alana says in a low voice, and Connor's stomach flips. He doesn't know which is worse - Evan seeing him tied to a chair, or Zoe seeing him tied to a chair.

"You invited my _sister?"_ He calls.

"Use your abnormally acute hearing for something else!" Jared yells.

"You can't let my sister see me like this!" Connor continues.

"I can and I will!" Jared retaliates, apparently at the end of his rope.

"You're the devil!" Connor just needs to have the final word. That's all it is.

~

They close the door before Zoe can see him, behind Evan. Evan bites his lip, half in amusement, the other half in something Connor can't quite place. "I can't believe they had to tie you to a chair so we could have this conversation." Is the first thing Evan says to him.

"I don't like confrontation." Connor jokes, shrugging as much as Alana's knots allow.

"Says the teenaged vigilante." Evan quips, dragging a stool over and seating himself in front of Connor, as Connor lets out a short laugh.

"Touché." He sobers. "I was going to voluntarily come into this conversation, but they felt the need to tie me down, if it's any consolation."

The smile on Evan's face shrinks. He says nothing.

"I'm sorry." Connor says.

Evan appears to think this over, for a moment. "I don't want that to happen again." He ends up saying.

Connor's a little bit caught of guard, "What?"

"I don't want us to stop talking because we can't finish an argument. You can't just walk out. You can't just let me beat you down." Evan elaborates and gestures at the two of them. "If this is gonna work between us, we've gotta resolve our problems, instead of ignoring them."

"Okay. I'm sorry." Connor says again. "My defence for losing an argument has always been to walk away. Ask my dad."

"Can we please discuss this like functional human beings?" Evan asks, looking a bit distressed.

"Sure." There's nothing else Connor can say to that request.

Evan folds his hands in his lap. "Why don't you want me involved with this?" That's the big question, the question with so many answers. A question Connor really never wants to hear again.

"I'm just scared for you." And it sounds so dumb, the way he says it, but it's the only answer he's ever had. "It's not that I think you can't handle it, I know you can, I'm just scared that you'll get hurt, and I won't be able to help you."

"You _keep saying that-"_ Evan begins, but if Connor kets him continue it'll just be one of their arguments, again.

"And you've yet to show me a way to keep you safe while also being involved." He interrupts.

"So, what _can_ I do?" It's a fair question, Connor will give him that.

"I think you'd need a taser, or something. Some self defence training." Evan sports a dubious expression, so Connor adds, "You're pretty unprotected, as it is."

"Connor, I don't have the money for either of those things." Evan says.

"I do." He shrugs, ignoring the tug of the scarf at his wrist. He doesn't really mind.

"Connor..."

"If you're serious about this, you can't come with me and be totally defenceless. That's where all superhero movie conflicts come from. I don't wanna have to become broody or some shit because you died."

Evan doesn't seem to find this as funny as Connor had thought he would, so he drops it.

"Besides that, I don't want you hurt." He rolls his eyes and Connor sighs. "I know I keep repeating myself, but your safety is top priority."

"Stop making _me_ top priority." Evan says, hotly, his fingers digging into his pants. "Your _own_ safety is supposed to be top priority."

"Okay. You get self defence lessons, and maybe a taser." Connor tries to work it through in his head. "I work on self preservation. We communicate more."

"Yeah. You agree?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, good." And, at that, Evan seems to relax.

"I'm sorry." Connor says again.

"I am too." And his face displays absolutely no doubt. Connor's always loved what an open book he is. "I shouldn't have pushed like that."

"If you hadn't, we wouldn't be here." Connor comments. "And while I actually prefer a position in which I am not tied to a chair..."

Evan stifles a laugh, registering, again, that Connor is indeed tied to a chair. He gets up and walks around the chair to look at the knots. "Can I make it up to you?" Evan asks.

"Untie me?" Connor suggests. He feels the movement of Evan's hands against the scarf. And then it retreats.

"Actually..." is Evan's reply, and then his hand is in Connor's hair.

"Don't tell me you're into this." Connor says, but he's smiling. Evan adjusts his hand as he rounds the chair, to face him. "Because while I could get used to it, my wrists kinda hurt."

Evan doesn't say anything, just climbs onto Connor's lap and kisses him. And it feels like coming home.

Nothing could ever match up to Evan. Not flying through the air, not the adrenaline rush of being in a fight, not anything. And Connor was so caught up in trying to protect him, he almost lost him.

Connor tilts his head, kisses Evan back and sighs a little. He's such an idiot, he thinks, for almost letting Evan go.

Evan's hands run up his arms and the up his neck, to cup his jaw, his fingertips pushing at his scalp. "I don't know about you, but I actually kinda like this." He says. Connor laughs.

He hears shuffling behind the door.

"Ew." Jared whispers.

"They're making up, Jared; don't be crude." Alana responds.

"I'll do what I want to do." He huffs and Connor grins against Evan's lips. Evan doesn't seem to notice Connor's distraction, and kisses away from his mouth, to his chin.

"May I remind you that this was your idea." Comes Alana's voice, and Connor kinda wishes his enhanced hearing would chill for a second while his boyfriend kisses his neck.

"Yeah." Jared sighs, in reluctant agreement. "And it could be worse. Connor could be in handcuffs."

"Is that better or worse than the scarf?" Alana asks, seemingly curious.

Jared snorts, "I think the question is less 'better or worse' and more 'kinky'." Connor's over it.

"You guys know I can hear you, right?" He calls, and Evan laughs so hard he falls off Connor's lap.

"Fuck." Jared swears, from the other side of the door.

"Someone untie me before Zoe gets in here." He says, and Evan smiles at him, getting up to do just that.

~

"Uh, Jared."

_"What?"_

"Dont freak out."

_"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO."_

"Connor may or may not have torn the left foot off the suit."

"EVAN, YOU SNITCH."

 _"YOU_ WHAT?"

 

**Fin.**

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, please leave me a comment, and/or a kudos, and hmu on Tumblr @nose-coffee.
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!


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